Bucs' Todd Bowles Explains Not Going for 2 After Late TD in Loss to Mahomes, Chiefs

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles explained his thought process in kicking the extra point to tie the game rather than trying to go for two after his team scored a late touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Speaking to reporters following a 30-24 overtime loss, Bowles said he thought the wet field conditions at Arrowhead Stadium made it more conducive to playing for overtime instead of trying to win in regulation.

"We wanted to get into overtime with the wet conditions on the field, we thought we had to go into overtime instead of going for two. We had our shots. We lost the game," Bowles said.

After Tampa Bay kicked the extra point to tie the score, the Chiefs won the overtime coin toss and drove 70 yards in 10 plays. Kareem Hunt's two-yard touchdown run ended the game with the Bucs never touching the ball in the overtime period.

The Buccaneers were trailing 24-17 when they got the ball back with 2:17 remaining after forcing a three-and-out. Baker Mayfield engineered a 10-play, 71-yard drive that was capped off with Ryan Miller's touchdown with 27 seconds to play in regulation.

While there are some teams it's easy to justify taking the point and playing for overtime, the history of Patrick Mahomes says that the Chiefs are not among them.

Mahomes has a 6-0 overtime record in the regular season, with the Chiefs winning the coin toss in five of those games. One person who knew that playing for overtime was a bad idea was Mayfield based on his reaction when Kansas City won the toss.

Bowles' logic for taking the extra point to play for overtime was deeply flawed, beyond the Mahomes factor. If you are playing on a wet field, that would seem to offer more incentive to end the game as soon as possible.

Instead, Bowles took the conservative route and wound up paying for it. The Bucs are reeling now and face an uphill climb to make the playoffs.

After a strong 4-2 start this season that included a win over the Detroit Lions in Week 2, the Buccaneers have lost three straight games. They are two games behind the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South, with Atlanta having swept the regular-season series between the clubs.

There is good news for the Bucs because their schedule does ease up for a few weeks soon. They have a difficult matchup with the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday before winnable games against the New York Giants, Carolina Panthers and Las Vegas Raiders.

It's possible the Buccaneers get Mike Evans back from a hamstring injury before their Week 12 game against the Giants to boost the offense.

The sky isn't totally falling for Bowles and the Bucs after Monday's loss, but it was a missed opportunity to at least not play for the win at the end of regulation on the road against the undefeated Chiefs.